After the conclusion of the 2025 legislative session, Speaker Murrell Smith (R-Sumter) appointed a SC House Ad Hoc Transportation Modernization Committee to study the SC Department of Transportation and its functions to determine outcomes that could help the agency run more efficiently.
Two versions of the modernization bill were introduced in the House and the Senate, but ultimately S831 was sent to a conference committee where the conference report was adopted by both chambers, ratified and signed into law by the governor.
Sens. Larry Grooms (R-Berkeley), Sean Bennett (R-Dorchester) and Overture Walker (R-Richland); and Reps. Bruce Bannister (R-Greenville), Shannon Erickson (R-Beaufort) and Gary Brewer (R-Charleston) served as conference committee members.
The new law includes these points:
- The secretary of SCDOT will be appointed by the governor with advice and consent from the Senate. The current Secretary of Transportation, Justin Powell, will continue serving.
- The SCDOT Commission is abolished, effective January 1, 2027. The duties, powers and responsibilities will be devolved onto the secretary.
- The Coordinating Council for Transportation and Mobility that was initially included in S831 has been removed.
- The state auditor is required to employ an independent firm to conduct an audit of SCDOT every four years.
- The law removes the previous legal requirement that C-funds be spent on state roads.
- The law clarifies that the SCDOT is responsible for preparing the statewide long-range transportation plan in coordination with local governments.
- Municipalities are required to provide written disapproval of SCDOT work at least 180 days before right-of-way acquisition takes place, or the work will be considered approved. If work is disapproved, the project will be canceled unless it is deemed in the state’s best interest.
- County councils are prohibited from serving as a County Transportation Committee. Legislative delegations representing a county are allowed to appoint CTC members. All members of a CTC must be residents of the county, and CTC membership lists must be published online. This section is effective 90 days after the effective date of the bill, which is July 1, 2027.
Full Municipal Association of SC legislative report
The Municipal Association of SC will provide its full year-end legislative report, recapping all of action taken by the General Assembly during the 2026 session that will impact cities and towns, at the 2026 Annual Meeting in July.
Find the Association’s week-by-week From the Dome to Your Home legislative reports from the 2026 session online.